U20 Men's National Team begins training camp for qualifying tournament
Published 12/21/2006 9:19:57 AM by Staff from US Soccer
ALL SMILES TO START: All 26 players on the U.S. Under-20 Men’s National Team roster arrived in Bradenton, Fla., on Tuesday (Dec. 12) with smiles on their faces as they greeted one from another, knowing that being in camp means they’re part of the final pool of players that could be selected by head coach Thomas Rongen for the 2007 CONCACAF Final Round Qualifying Tournament in January. A day later, those smiles quickly disappeared as the training and dreaded fitness began, and reality set in – they’re competing against the guys to their left and right for a spot in Panama. After the camp, which ends on Dec. 23, Rongen will determine his 20-player roster for the qualifying tournament, announcing the list at the end of December.
NO EUROPEANS: Despite a number of European professionals in the player pool, none were brought in by Rongen due to their club commitments and will probably not be with the U-20s until they leave for qualifying in January. Midfielders Michael Bradley and Robbie Rogers stayed with Heerenveen in the Netherlands, while Johann Smith is seeing time with the first team at Bolton in the English Premier League. Preston Zimmerman is training with Hamburg SV in Germany.
CRAMPING AND HEAVING: Not only do the players have the challenge of trying to earn a spot on the roster, they’re dealing with a regimen of daily fitness workouts during this camp as Rongen attempts to get his team in top physical shape for qualifying. Things didn’t start gradually by any means as the players lined up on the endline for the dreaded beep test to end the first training session on Tuesday morning. The final two were Dallas FC midfielder Dax McCarty and UCLA defender Anthony Beltran, two of the smallest players in the group, with Beltran holding out for the victory and McCarty seeing his lunch for the second time that day. A few hours later, the players fought through heavy legs, parched th roats and body cramps for some long distance running to once again test their endurance and set a bench mark to improve on by the end of the camp.
CAMP MATCHES: While the fitness and training sessions will help the players get into shape, it’s the matches the U-20s will play that will make or break their chances of landing on the qualifying roster. The U.S. will play a total of three matches and two intrasquad scrimmages during the week. The two intrasquad scrimmages will take place on Saturday, Dec. 16, and Friday, Dec. 22, but the crucial games will be against the U.S. Under-17 MNT on Monday, Dec. 18, and Canada’s U-20 MNT on Wednesday, Dec. 20. The 26 players will be split into two squads for two simultaneous games against the U-17s, while each player will at least get to play a half against Canada.
THE ROAD TO QUALIFYING: Rongen will pick his final 20-player qualifying roster at the end of this camp and the selected players will have a week off for the holidays before returning to Bradenton on Dec. 30 for an eight-day camp. During that camp, the U-20s will play three games in five days (Jan. 2, 4 and 6) to mirror their qualifying schedule. The opponents for those three matches are yet to be determined, but will likely include a match against the U.S. U-17 MNT. Once again, there is a chance the European-based players will be unavailable, but Rongen will not invite in any additional players to fill any vacant spots. After the camp, the players will head home for three days and then regroup on Jan. 10 in Fort Lauderdale where they will train before heading to Panama for the qualifying tournament on Jan. 14.
QUALIFYING SCHEDULE SET: The U.S. is in Group A of the 2007 CONCACAF Final Round Qualifying Tournament with Guatemala, Haiti and host Panama. The U.S. will open the tournament in Panama City, Panama, against Haiti on Jan. 17 at 6:30 p.m. ET before taking on Guatemala on Jan. 19 at 6:30 p.m. ET and then finishing against the hosts on Jan. 21 at 6 p.m. ET. Every match will be played at Rommel Fernandez Stadium. The top two teams in the group will qualify for the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Canada, which will take place from June 30-July 22 across six cities – Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Edmonton, Burnaby and Victoria. The U.S. will be attempting to qualify for their sixth straight U-20 FIFA World Cup (formerly FIFA World Youth Championship). The other two of the four CONCACAF berths (not including Canada, which gets an automatic berth as host) will come from Group B, which will occur a month later from Feb. 21-25 in Culiacan, Sinaloa, located on the west coast of Mexico. Competing with the hosts will be Costa Rica, St. Kitts & Nevis and Jamaica.
2007 CONCACAF Final Round Group A Qualifying Schedule
Wednesday, Jan. 17
USA vs. Haiti
Guatemala vs. Panama
Friday, Jan. 19
USA vs. Guatemala
Panama vs. Haiti
Sunday, Jan. 21
Guatemala v s. Haiti
USA vs. Panama
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